Cotton-harvester.



W. J. LEE. COTTON HARVESTE'R. 7 APPLICATION FILED NOV. 30, 1912.,11,132,102. Patented Mar. 16, 1915.

.4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

W. J. LEE.

COTTON HARVESTER.

APPLICATION IILED NOV. 30, 1912 Patented Mar.16,191 5.

W. J. LEE.

COTTON HARVESTER.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 30, 1912.

4 SHEETSSHEET 3.

Patented Mmfl 6, 1915.

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COTTON HARVESXL APPLICATION llLED NOV. 30. 912,

1,1 32,102, Patented Mar. 16,1915.

4 SHEETS SHEET 4.

WALDO JONATHAN IE2, or MUNSON, smears, oemme.

COTTON-HABVESTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 16, 1915.

Application tiled November 30, 1912. Serial No. 734,352.

T all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, WALDO J. LEE, a citizenof the United States, residing in Munson, in the Province of Alberta andDominion of Canada, have invented a new an useful Improvement inCotton-Harvesters, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improvement in cotton harvesters operatingupon the principle of a suction or vacuum device, the cotton being drawnfrom the bolls by means of said suction, and being carried throughsuitable pipes or tubes to a convenient place of storage. I am aware ofthe fact that this principle of extracting the cotton from bolls andconveying the same to a suitable receptacle through the agency of astrong current of air has been employed or tested in a number ofdifferent machines, but in many of these devices the operation has beenpractically as slow as hand picking owing to the fact that the varioussuction nozzles carried at the ends offlexible tubes were required to beplaced by hand in position to operate upon each boll.

It will be obvious that any device which requires the presentation ofnozzle or other picking devices to each separate boll can have littleadvantage over hand picking.

The object of my invention is to so construct a machine of thepneumatictype that by driving the same over the field, the entireripened crop may be gathere pidly and with certainty. This picki processcan be best carried on after the leaves have fallen, at which time fromone-half to twothirds of the entire crop can be gathered at one picking.

The invention consists substantially in conveying two parallel drumsalong opposite sides of the row of plants being operated upon, saiddrums being longitudinally slotted and a strong current of air beingdrawn into the drums through said slots. Suitable devices correspondingwith picking fingers are caused to operate in alinement with said slotsand catch and draw the cotton into the drum. At the same time certainother means will cause the plants to be presented to the drums and alsoserve to keep said openings clean and prevent limbs and branches frombeing also carried into the drums.

The invention also consists of a number of minor features adapted tocooperate with said drums so that the entire picking operation Wlllproceed smoothly and under control of the operator.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1s a side elevation of the completedevice.

Fig. 2 is a detail view, a platform being in section, of a front truckaxle. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one of the bolts employed inmounting the drum. Fig. 4 is a plan view. Fig. 5 is a detail plan viewof means for holding the drums in proper spaced relationship with eachother. Figs. 6 and 7 are perspective views of separate parts of a drumspacing device. Fig. 8 is an inverted plan viewof a drum support. Fig. 9is a side elevation of the inner face of one of the drums, the truckplatform being shown in section, and parts of a guide being broken away.Fig. 10 is an elevation of one of the picking rollers. Fig. 11 is across section upon the line 11-11 of Fig. 10. Fig. 12 is a section onthe line 12-42 of Fig. 10. Fig. 13 is a section on the line 1318 of Fig.10. Fig. 14 is a perspective view of a pin carrying plate. Fig. 15 is avertical section through oneof the drums. Fig. 16 is a section on theline 16-16 of Fig. 14. Fig. 17 is' a detail view of the front of thetruck, parts being in section.

In constructing the device, I employ a suitable truck 1 having rearwheels 2 and smaller front wheels 3. While it is not essential that thetruck be self-propelled it is desirable that such form of truck be usedin order to obtain the necessary power to operate the picking device andto create the air suction necessary to the successful operation of themachine. Any suitable form of engine 4 may therefore be mounted upon thetruck and upon the rear portion of the truck there is mounted anysuitable form of basket or casing 5 for the purpose of receiving thecotton.

The wheels 2 carry suitable driving gears 6, which mesh with smallergears? carried by a shaft 8. These in turn are driven by means of alarge gear 9 fixed upon the shaft 8 and which meshes with a suitablegear 10 carried by a transverse shaft 11. The shaft 11 carries at oneend a beveled gear 12 which meshes with a suitable beveled gear 13carried by the lower end of a vertically arranged shaft 14. Said shafthas slidably keyed upon it a friction disk 15 which is moved verticallyacross the face of a verti cally arranged disk 16, the disk 16 beingcarried by a crank shaft 17 driven by the piston rod 18 of the engine.

A suitable hand operated screw 19 works through a block 20, whichincloses the disk 15 and as said block is moved upwardly and downwardlyupon the shaft 14 it will carry the disk 15 with it. The screw 19 worksthrough an angled portion of a threaded block 21 through which alsoworks hori- Zontally a threaded rod the inner end portion of which isformed into a handle and the outer end portion into a suitable eyeinclosing and forming an adjustable hearing at the upper end of theshaft 14. By operating this last mentioned rod 22, it will be obviousthat the pressure of the friction disk 15 upon the vertically arrangeddisk 16 can be regulated. Through the means above described drivingpower is transmitted to the wheels 2, and also as will be hereinafterexplained to certain cotton picking devices.

To create the required vacuum or air suction a suitable fan casing 23 ismounted upon the forward portion of the truck and Within said casing isarranged any suitable type of fan. To drive thefan I mount upon the endportion of the shaft 17 opposite the disk 16 suitable step pulleys 24,and suitable band operated o positely stepped pulleys 25 are carried byt e transverse shaft 26 provided with a beveled gear 27, which mesheswith a beveled gear 28 carried by the fan shaft. As types of these fansare well known it has not been considered necessary to illustrate thefan blade.

The front wheels 3 are mounted upon an arched front axle 29, and theplatform of the truck 1 is mounted upon a comparatively large gearsegment 30, which is either integral with or rigidly secured to a curvedsegment '31. The segment 31 and the arched portion of the axle 29 areL-shaped in cross section and said segment 31 rests loosely upon thearch 29 and carries upon its front face guide brackets 32, the archedportion 29 of the front axle resting in said brackets and being adaptedto move longitudinallv with respect to the segment 31, having a slidingmovement between said brackets and said segment. By means of thisconstruction the elevation of one of the frontwheels 3 above the otherwheel due to unevenness of the ground produces simply a sliding movementof the front axle along the face of the segment but without tipping thefront of the truck to any appreciable extent. I also provide upon theunder side of the platform a suitable. gear wheel 33 which meshes withthe gear 30, and said gear 33 is provided with a hand operated steeringshaft 34, and a suitable ratchet 35 and a foot operated pawl or lookingdetent 36. By means of the parts last mentioned the front wheels may beturned for the purpose of steering the casing are arranged upright posts37, provided with parallel vertical grooves 38 and 39, the grooves 38being the rear ones, and in said grooves are slidably mountedrectangular end members of a frame 39 comprising a cylindrical topmember 40 and a similar lower member41. Depending from the bottom member41 of the frame are rack bars 43, said rack bars being engaged bysuitable gears of gear trains 42 operated through a handle 44, saidhandle having at its lower end a beveled gear 45 meshing with a beveledgear 46 fixed upon a shaft 47, which extends beneath the platform of thetruck and carries adjacent each end one gear of each of the gear trains43. The object of employing more than one gear 43 is simply to removethe handle 44 a slight distance to the rear of the frame so that thehandle will not project beneath the frame and I do not of course desireto be limited to any particular construction of gearing or any specificmethod of converting rotary movement of the handle 44 into a verticalmovement upon the part of the rack bars 42. Any construction which willimpart a vertical movement to the bars 40 and 41 may be employed. Thesebars form a support for the cotton picking mechanism, and this mechanismis preferably supported upon two platforms 48, and to distinguish themfrom the platform of the truck they will hereafter be referred to asfoot portions of standards 49, as they may be integral with saidstandards.

Each of these standards has an angled end portion 50 forming an armterminating in an eye and slidably mounted upon the bar 40 of therectangular frame 39 and each standard has also a rearwardly extendingmounted upon the arm 51 which is slidably bottom member 41 of the frame.The arms 51 also act as a support for a shaft 52, the ends of whichslide vertically in the grooves 39, and which will be referred to indetail hereafter.

The essential features of my invention reside especially in the cottonpicking mechanism carried by the foot portion 48, and as these areduplicates, a detailed description of the mechanism supported by one ofsaid foot portions will also serve as a description of the other. Asshown in Fig. 8 the foot portion 48 is substantially circular and iscentrally cut Out as shown at 53. Upon the underside of the foot portionis placed a bracket 54 over Which works a lever 55, any suitable meansbeing employed for locking the lever in adjusted position uponthebracket, and said lever terminates in an oblong loop 56 which is securedto the bottom of a flan ed plate 57 fitting in the opening 53, the angeand the loop preventing said plate moving either upwardly or downwardlyin the said opening. The plate 57 is provided centrally with a squareopening in which fits the lower end of a bolt 58. It will be noted fromFig. 3 that this bolt is of a peculiar shape having a square head,having a reduced squared portion 59 adjacent said head fitting in theopening of the plate, a cylindrical portion 60 between the reducedportion and the square body portion of the bolt and an upper cylindricalthreaded portion 61. Resting upon said foot portion is a cylindricaldrum support 62 to the exterior of which is bolted a gear ring 63.Arranged within this support is a gearing comprislng a gear train 64 themain member of which meshes with an internal gear 65 carried by thesupport. This gear train also drives a train of active and idle pinions66 and 67, respectively. This gear mechanism is inclosed between upperand lower'plates 68, said plates having central square openings fittingthe body portion of the bolt 58, the drum support 62 being adapted toturn upon a cylindrical portion 60 of the bolt. It willbe obvioustherefore that upon rotation of the drum rotation of the various gears64, 66 and 67 will be imparted by reason of the engagementof the maingear of the train 64 with the gear ring 65 carried by theinterior oftherevolving drum support. Mounted within the upper portion of the sup on62 but held against rotation by the bo t is a picking drum 69. Asuitably threaded nut 70 works upon the upper threaded end of the bolt58 and locks said drum to the foot portion 48.

The drum is provided with two parallel slots 71 and within the drum isarranged a funnel shaped casing 72 which fits against the slottedside ofthe drum. It may be stated here that the two drums have these slotsformed in their adjacent sides, and in operation the drum is moved alongthe row of. plants to be picked, one drum traveling upon one side of therow and the other drum upon the other side, the slots 71 of courseopening toward the row of plants, the cotton extracted being drawn intothe drums and into the funnels 72 through said slots. To assist in thisoperation and make certain that the cotton drawn by air suction entersthe funnel I provide shafts 73 provided with suitable obliquely arrangedpulling fingers 74, said shafts being arranged in pairs, one shaft ofeach pair being arranged adjacent one side of the slot and the othershaft of that pair being arranged upon the opposite side as shown inFig. 16.

It is of course understood that the funnel 72 hasconnected to it asuitable conveyer pipe'75 which runs to the fan casing 23.

From this point cotton is carried by means of a suitable pipe 76,arranged under the truck 1, to the receptacle 5. ortions of the pipe 75may be flexible and such construction is preferred and in fact necessaryif the drums are to be shifted to any appreciableextent from theirnormal positions.-

I prefer to form the shafts 73 into two longitudinal halves, recessingthe inner faces of the said sections as shown at 77, in Fig. 10, thespace so formed being filled with any suitable packing material 73*.This allows the pulling fingers 74 to be inserted from the inside ofeach section before placing said sections together, and makes it veryeasy to replace any finger that might become broken. The extreme endportions of the shaft sections are provided with suitable caps 78, andscrews 78 may also be employed as indicated for holding the saidsections together. These shafts are mounted at their lower ends upon theupper ends of the arbors of the active pinions 66 and are thereforedriven through the medium of the gear train 64. The upper portion of thedrum carries an exterior gear ring 79 and suitable bars 80 are arrangedcircumferentially about said drum, their upper. and lower ends beingsecured respectively to the ear rings 63 and 79.

It wlll be obvious that the rotation of the gear rings will carry thebars 80 circumferentially about the drum, and I prefer to form thesebars triangular in cross section, the apex portions extending outwardly,and their inner faces being sli htly curved to conform to the curvature0% the drum. As these bars cross the slots 71 of the drum they willshear off any branches which might otherwise be drawn through said slotsand into the funnel 72.

There is of course a possibility that drooping branches or those whichmay have become broken might pass between the drums without the cottoncarried thereby being drawn into the slots. To prevent this and catchthe branches after passing the first slot of each drum I provide thefollowingbranch engaging mechanism: Between the slots the drum isprovided with a plurality of openings 81 and above and below the row ofopenings with circumferentially extending slots 82 within the funnel 72and alinin'g with the openings 81 and the slots 82 is a sectionaltelescoping casing '83, the front portion of the casing being adapted toslide over the rear portion as shown in Figs. 15 and 16 and springs 84,one of which is shown, are interposed between the two sections and holdthem in their normal relative position, returning the outer section toposition after it has been forcedinwardly. The front movable sectioncarries upper and lower beveled blocks 85 whichwork through the slots82, and the intermedia re portion of this section carries pins 86, whichwork through the openings 82. The beveled blocks 85 are engaged by-thebars 80 and forced inwardly, thereby carrying the pins 86 inwardly andpermitting passage of the bars. These pins catch and hold the branchesthereby giving ample time for the cotton to be caught in the air currentand drawn into the first slot, and

any branch overhanging or obstructing any boll of cotton from enteringthe first slot is retarded or pushed forward by the pins therebyuncovering the boll and exposing it to the second slot.

Any suitable form of gearing may be employed for imparting rotation tothe gears 63 and 79 but I have shown a shaft 87 pro vided with a beveledgear 88 which meshes with the gear 12 and which in turn by means of agear 89, meshing with the inner cogged'face of a friction disk 90 drivesthe said disk. This disk in turn drives an adjustable friction wheel 91having a shaft 92 and beveled gear 93. An upright shaft 94 is providedwith a beveled gear 95 which meshes with the gear 93 and also with abeveled gear 96 which meshes with the beveled gear 97 carried upon anend of the shaft 52.

It will be obvious that as previously stated this shaft passes throughthe arms 51 and in order that the said shaft may move vertically thepost through which the shaft entirely extends is slotted, throughout aportion of its length as indicated at 98, said slot of coursecommunicating with the groove 39 of said post. Bevel gears 100 arecarried by stub shafts 101 which are supported from, parallel to andspaced from the arms 51. Bevel gears 99 are slidably keyed on the shaft52'and mesh with the gears 100, the gears 99 being held between the arms51 and the bevel gears 100, so that movement of the arms 51 and thegears 100 slide or carry the gears 99 with them. The shafts 101 carry attheir forward ends beveled gears 102, which mesh with beveled gears 103carried by vertically arranged shafts 104, which shafts are mounted insuitable brackets 104 carried by the standards 49. At their lower endsthese shafts carry gears 105 which niesh with the gear rings 63 of thedrum'supports, and adjacent their upper ends the shafts 104 carry gears106 which mesh with the gear rings 79 of the drums: It is obvioustherefore that the gear rings and bars 80 of each drum are driven at thesame rate of speed and in practice I prefer to have the speedof theseparts equal to that of the forward advance of the truck orat least be insome definite ratio to the forward advance of the truck.

Arranged immediately in advance of the drums and supported or braced inany desired manner are suitable guides 107 the object of. which is tolift and compress tomadam get'her the plants, guiding them to the drumsand presenting them in the bestposition for effectually extracting thecotton from the bolls. The exact shape and manner of mounting theseguides may be changed without in any way departing from the essentialfeatures of my invention.

It will be noted that the arms 50 and 51 are slidably mounted upon themembers 40 and 41, and consequently the distance between the drums maybe varied. But in order to prevent the drums from working either tooclosely together or too far apart due to the jolting of the truck indriving over rough grounds I prefer to connect the arms 51 together bymeans of a spring 108, and in Fig. 5 I have shown in detail thepreferred form of spring connection. It will of course be understoodthat other forms maybe substituted in place of the one shown. i

It may frequently happen that owing to some slight irregularity in a rowof plants it may be desirable to change the relative position of thedrums in order to follow such irregularity rather than to try to followthe same by steering a zig zag course with the truck. It also frequentlyoccurs that the plants in one portion of a row may be thicker and morebushy in type than in other portions due to changing soil conditions andI have therefore provided an operating lever 109 which is pivoted to anupright post 110 carried by the front of the truck and said arm carriesa pin which engages one of a series of suitable openings 111 in a bar112. In order that said bar may be adjusted to accommodate variousspacings of the drums I- secure the same in a sleeve 113, provided withsuitable pin openings 114, and said sleeve has a T-head at one endprovided with an opening 115 through which onearm 51 can pass and thebar 112 has a head at one end with an opening 116 through which theother arm 51 may pass. By adjusting said bar in the sleeve thedistance'between the two arms may be regulated, and suitable pinspassing through the openings 114 and alining openings 111 secure the barand sleeve together. By pinning the operating lever 109 to the bar 112it will be obvious that the swinging of said lever will shift the drumsslightly along the frame thereby causing them to follow any slightirregularity in the row. i

It is believed that from the drawings and above descriptiona clear andfull understanding of my invention will be bad.

What I claim is z- 1. In a cotton harvester, a drum having parallellongitudinal slots, means for, creating a suction of air through theslots, means for moving said drum along a row of plants, picking fingersarranged within said drum and adjacent said slots, means for operatingsaid fingers, and shearing means rotatable about the exterior of thedrum passing transversely across said slots, as and for the purpose setforth.

2. In a cotton harvester, a drum having longitudinal slots, means forpresenting the slotted portion of said drum to a cotton plant, means forcreating a suction of air through said slots, means operatively mountmaybe ed within the drum for drawing said cotton inwardly, a series ofprojecting pins adapted to work outwardly and inwardly between saidslots, shearing devices adapted to rotate about said drum, and means forretracting said pins and permitting passage of said shearing devices.

3. A cotton receiving receptacle provided with suitable slots throughwhich the cotton drawn in the said receptacle, and series of openingsbeing formed between said slots, a bar carrying a plurality of pinsadapted to Work through a portion of said openings, beveled blockscarried by the bar and adapted to work through the other openings, and aseries of shearing devices adapted to travel across the exterior face ofsaid receptacle, and across the slots, the said beveled blocks beingpressed inwardly by said shearing devices thereby retracting the pins.

4. In a cotton harvester, a drum support, said support being verticallyadjustable, a drum mounted upon said support, said drum being providedwith cotton receiving slots, means for effecting a partial rotation ofsaid drum, gear rings arranged respectively adjacent the upper and lowerportions of the drum, and having independent rotation with respect tosaid drum, a series of shearing bars carried by said gear rings andadapted to revolve about said drum, and means for rotating said gearrings.

In a cotton harvester a vertically ad justable rectangular frame, drumsupports slidably mounted upon the horizontal members of said frame,cotton collecting drums carried respectively by said supports, saiddrums being slotted upon their opposing faces, means for causing cottonto enter said slots, a series of shearing bars adapted to revolve aboutsaid drums and across said slots, means for revolving said bars, andmeans for effecting a partial rotation of said drum.

6. A device of the kind described comprising a truck, a verticallyadjustable frame carried by said drum, standards having circular footportions, arms extending from said standards, said arms being slidablymounted upon the horizontal members of the said frame, spring meansconnecting an arm of one standard with an arm of the other standard,means for sliding said arms along the frame members, cotton collectingdrums mounted upon said supports, said drums being slotted upon theiropposing faces, cotton extracting fingers arranged within said drums andadjacent said slots, means for operating said fingers, shearing devicesadapted to travel across the slots means for operating said shearingdevices and means for causing a current of air to pass inwardly throughsaid slots.

WALDO JONATHAN LEE.

Witnesses:

D. W HENDERSON, C. W. ROBINSON.

